Southern Utah Adventure

This week Jennifer suggested that we take a road trip to see Bryce Canyon. So we arranged for a hotel and off we went Thursday to see the canyon. We arrived in Bryce that afternoon and took a quick trip to see some sights. It was cloudy and cold, but still beautiful.

We wanted to go to fairyland, but it was closed to cars and open to cross country skiers. Also due to treacherous ice, we could not hike in to see the queen's garden.

Below are some photos from that sunset point that evening.


Lyman with the kids


Looking down from sunset point


Some hoodoos

We went back in the morning. It snowed a skiff in the night and was snowing lightly that morning. As we climbed up to sunrise point we saw a little 4-point buck and a doe and some fawns. Later the whole herd decided to climb down into the canyon. It may not look too steep in the photo, but that cliff is not a place I would like to be.


Buck


Doe with fawns


The herd descends into the canyon

Below are shots of the canyon from sunrise point (or possibly the climb/descent).


Looking toward the sinking ship.


Dad with the kids again.


Proof that Jen was there. AKA two beautiful sights.

We moved on to Bryce point saw the following:


Big shot of the canyon.


The alligator formation


DJ saw this formation with what looks like a face near the top of the hill
Update: apparently this isn't what DJ was referring to as a face :(


Video showing the wall of windows

We decided to take the scenic way home, so we drove routes 12-24-50 through Escalante, Lyman, and Scipio to get home. It is an absolutely spectacular drive, and I recommend that everyone take it at least once.

We saw the grand staircase and read about the hole in the rock. It turns out that Jen's Hatch ancestors blazed the trail to the hole in the rock, so we have a connection there.


A shot of the staircase


Jen with the kids

We stopped at some overlooks. At one point the road traverses the top of the ridge and there is literally just enough room for to road (it was a bit scary). We took a shot from there and also saw a bird about 25 feet from us (is it a crow?).



Looking down from the top of the ridge


Birdy at the top of the ridge

We continued on and stopped to see an incredible view from about 9000 ft.


The circle cliffs


Video showing capitol reef with the Henry mountains in the background, circle cliffs, and grand staircase

The road climbed to almost 10000 feet. It was snowing and cold there. There are large stands of quaking aspens with no pines. It was beautiful.

Everyone had a fun trip!